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. — _.__jc'?- %tttVAi.Zft$1:•,T'-_h...S=,ei-kl..-f , ,,- 2+-,SA-IF-VVOOLL..
11, NO.8
The Man
Who:Could
Not ow
Up
No One Listened in 1976
A PUBLICATION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY
q-
... is how the author of
Peter Pan described himself.
Karl Keller takes a look at
Barrie: his boys, his
creative process, and his
homosexuality: all on
page 13.
illarked Progress in Gay Vote '80
by Don Leavitt
Ginny Apuzzo knows the progress made
by Gay Vote '80, the title given to the indi-viduals,
local groups, and national organiza-tions
working to get a Gay rights plank
accepted by the major political patties. In
1976 Apuzzo and fellow activist Jean
O'Leary were locked out of open hearings
given by the Democratic Platform Commit-tee_
They had come to testify on Gay rights
and no one wanted to hear their message.
Four years later, Apuzzo and two other
openly Gay people are members of the
Democratic Platform Committee. Last week
they heard several individuals give testimony
supporting Gay rights, and among the speak-ers
was the head of the D.C. Democratic
Party, Robert Washington [see accompany-ing
article]. Reflecting back on what had hap-pened
in four years, Apuzzo commented, "I
think it speaks to the success of all Gay
people."
Apuzzo and thousands of other Gay people
across the country have ben working toward
getting the Democratic and Republican par-ties
to adopt a plank supporting Gay rights.
While even die-hard Republicans admit that
there is little -chance of their party passing
such a measure, sources inside the Demo-cratic
party predict that there is at least a
50-50 chance of their party supporting the
rights of Gays in its platform. It is believed
that once the Democratic party is committed
to Gay rights on a national level, a flood of
-other Gay rights measures, from the bills in
Congress to local ordinances, should follow.
One of the principal components -of Gay
Vote '80 is the National Convention Project
[NCP], an organization formed to assist grass
roots groups elect delegates to the national
conventions. Despite several problems, the
project has achieved impressive results under
the guidance of —co-coordinators Mary
Spottswood Pou ("Spats") and Tom Bas-tow.
Bastow elaborates on their role: "We are
like Tom Sawyer. We talk to people and say
what fun it is to paint the fence and get them
doing it too, and if things work really well,
you don't have to do any painting yourself."
The results of the Project's Sawyeresque
work are many:
• Media coverage of the Gay vote has
increased tremendously this year, thanks
in part to the NCP's efforts. Their fund-raiser
at a D.C. disco —The Pier— with
Jerry Brown last November gained
national coverage and helped establish
Gay rights as a major concern in this elec-tion.
With the urging of the NC?, local
groups across the country are raising the
Gay- rights question at local candidate
forums and bringing the issue to a local
level. According to political pollsters, Gay
rights is among the 20 top issues iv. 1980.
• In Iowa, the NCP joined with the Gay
Coalition of Iowa to make Gay rights a
major issue in that early and heavily pub-licized
presidential contest. Precinct cau-
- cuses in five out of six Iowa Congressional
Districts passed a Gay rights resolution.
• The NCP worked hard with fledgling
New Hampshire groups to provide a Gay
presence in the nation's first primary'
state. A political forum held by the New
Hampshire Coalition of Lesbians and
Gay Men drew extensive press coverage.
• Tim Drake of Chicago was elected as an
- Anderson delegate. Drake is believed to
be the first openly Gay delegate ever to be
chosen to attend the Republican
convention.
• Six openly Gay Kennedy delegates were
elected in Florida, twice the total number
of open Gays that attended the 1976
Democratic convention.
• D.0 Mayor Marion Barry and San Fran-cisco
Mayor Dianne Feinstein have
signed a joint fundraising letter for the
project. The letter begins, "Dear Friend:
Something frightening and unthinkable is
happening in America, and we need your
help to stop it." The letter continues on to
describe the legislative dangers facing
Gay Americans and urges the reader to
donate money to the NCP.
Despite these successes, the NCP is in
trouble. Only about one third of the ambi-tious
S120,000 budget has been raised, and
not much more is expected in the future.
Co-coordinator Spotts Pou has had to resign
due to lack of funds, and Bastow plans to
continue only part time.
The Project's financial woes were intensi-fied
by a misunderstanding with its Califor-nia
backers. At D.C.'s Gertrude Stein
Democratic Club's candidate endorsement
meeting last January, both Pou and Bastow
urged the club to endorse Kennedy rather
than go uncommitted. At stake were several
delegate seats and other concessions the D.C.
Kennedy people were willing to make to gain
Stein's endorsement. Neither Governor
Brown nor President Carter had enough sup-port
to win the endorsement and the NCP
co-coordinators felt that Kennedy offered
the club the best deal.
Word filtered back to California that Pou
and Bastow had supported Kennedy over
native son Jerry Brown. A S30,000 fundraiser
was cancelled, and all California support was
withdrawn. "They told us that we weren't
Continued on page 21
APRIL 17, 1980
Charges
Levied At
'Politics'
Of. Rally
by Dave Walter
As the April 29 "Washington for Jesus"
rally draws near, promoters of the event are
still working to dispel charges by detractors
that the rally is not "truly spiritual" — but
political — in nature.
One Nation Under God, the Christian
fundamentalist (New Right) organization
sponsoring the event, states in its literature
that "Washington for Jesus is not a lobbying
group.. is not attempting to lend its influ:
ence to support any candidate for public
office .. . is a time for people to pray for
America."
The organization was forced to deal with
some big PR problems when opponents
began blasting away at the "Christian Decla-ration"
released by leaders of One Nation
Under God earlier this year. The document,
which refers to this month's rally, proclaims
opposition to homosexuality, divorce, abor-tion
— as well as big government, inflation,
and the teaching of "unbridled sexuality,
- humanism, and satanism" in public schools.
A "Washington for Jesus" spokesman,
who preferred not to be identified, claimed
the Declaration was considered six months
ago by religious leaders who were interested
then in developing a political agenda for the
event, but ultimately opted not to do so. The -
spokesman said it was agreed political stands
should be dropped, partly because of differ-ing
viewpoints that would have led to a split
among religious leaders. Thus, he added, it
was decided to conduct rally activities strictly
in a spiritual context.
Opponents, however, aren't convinced
One Nation Under God will actually stick to
a spiritual agenda. They claim the organiza-tion
has political goals well in mind and plans
to pursue them during office visits to
members of Congress on April 28.
The "Washington for Jesus" spokesman
Continued on page 6
INSIDE:
News: Metro accepts
posters • Gay Holocaust
victims noted e Justice
done in brutal murder
Wrap up
Preferences: Gay $$$
Clout • Cold hands
Woman musician reaches
out • Baltimore theatre
comes alive
Community Focus: Clinic
landscaped e Li-ICC goes
on two • Name that band!

. — _.__jc'?- %tttVAi.Zft$1:•,T'-_h...S=,ei-kl..-f , ,,- 2+-,SA-IF-VVOOLL..
11, NO.8
The Man
Who:Could
Not ow
Up
No One Listened in 1976
A PUBLICATION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY
q-
... is how the author of
Peter Pan described himself.
Karl Keller takes a look at
Barrie: his boys, his
creative process, and his
homosexuality: all on
page 13.
illarked Progress in Gay Vote '80
by Don Leavitt
Ginny Apuzzo knows the progress made
by Gay Vote '80, the title given to the indi-viduals,
local groups, and national organiza-tions
working to get a Gay rights plank
accepted by the major political patties. In
1976 Apuzzo and fellow activist Jean
O'Leary were locked out of open hearings
given by the Democratic Platform Commit-tee_
They had come to testify on Gay rights
and no one wanted to hear their message.
Four years later, Apuzzo and two other
openly Gay people are members of the
Democratic Platform Committee. Last week
they heard several individuals give testimony
supporting Gay rights, and among the speak-ers
was the head of the D.C. Democratic
Party, Robert Washington [see accompany-ing
article]. Reflecting back on what had hap-pened
in four years, Apuzzo commented, "I
think it speaks to the success of all Gay
people."
Apuzzo and thousands of other Gay people
across the country have ben working toward
getting the Democratic and Republican par-ties
to adopt a plank supporting Gay rights.
While even die-hard Republicans admit that
there is little -chance of their party passing
such a measure, sources inside the Demo-cratic
party predict that there is at least a
50-50 chance of their party supporting the
rights of Gays in its platform. It is believed
that once the Democratic party is committed
to Gay rights on a national level, a flood of
-other Gay rights measures, from the bills in
Congress to local ordinances, should follow.
One of the principal components -of Gay
Vote '80 is the National Convention Project
[NCP], an organization formed to assist grass
roots groups elect delegates to the national
conventions. Despite several problems, the
project has achieved impressive results under
the guidance of —co-coordinators Mary
Spottswood Pou ("Spats") and Tom Bas-tow.
Bastow elaborates on their role: "We are
like Tom Sawyer. We talk to people and say
what fun it is to paint the fence and get them
doing it too, and if things work really well,
you don't have to do any painting yourself."
The results of the Project's Sawyeresque
work are many:
• Media coverage of the Gay vote has
increased tremendously this year, thanks
in part to the NCP's efforts. Their fund-raiser
at a D.C. disco —The Pier— with
Jerry Brown last November gained
national coverage and helped establish
Gay rights as a major concern in this elec-tion.
With the urging of the NC?, local
groups across the country are raising the
Gay- rights question at local candidate
forums and bringing the issue to a local
level. According to political pollsters, Gay
rights is among the 20 top issues iv. 1980.
• In Iowa, the NCP joined with the Gay
Coalition of Iowa to make Gay rights a
major issue in that early and heavily pub-licized
presidential contest. Precinct cau-
- cuses in five out of six Iowa Congressional
Districts passed a Gay rights resolution.
• The NCP worked hard with fledgling
New Hampshire groups to provide a Gay
presence in the nation's first primary'
state. A political forum held by the New
Hampshire Coalition of Lesbians and
Gay Men drew extensive press coverage.
• Tim Drake of Chicago was elected as an
- Anderson delegate. Drake is believed to
be the first openly Gay delegate ever to be
chosen to attend the Republican
convention.
• Six openly Gay Kennedy delegates were
elected in Florida, twice the total number
of open Gays that attended the 1976
Democratic convention.
• D.0 Mayor Marion Barry and San Fran-cisco
Mayor Dianne Feinstein have
signed a joint fundraising letter for the
project. The letter begins, "Dear Friend:
Something frightening and unthinkable is
happening in America, and we need your
help to stop it." The letter continues on to
describe the legislative dangers facing
Gay Americans and urges the reader to
donate money to the NCP.
Despite these successes, the NCP is in
trouble. Only about one third of the ambi-tious
S120,000 budget has been raised, and
not much more is expected in the future.
Co-coordinator Spotts Pou has had to resign
due to lack of funds, and Bastow plans to
continue only part time.
The Project's financial woes were intensi-fied
by a misunderstanding with its Califor-nia
backers. At D.C.'s Gertrude Stein
Democratic Club's candidate endorsement
meeting last January, both Pou and Bastow
urged the club to endorse Kennedy rather
than go uncommitted. At stake were several
delegate seats and other concessions the D.C.
Kennedy people were willing to make to gain
Stein's endorsement. Neither Governor
Brown nor President Carter had enough sup-port
to win the endorsement and the NCP
co-coordinators felt that Kennedy offered
the club the best deal.
Word filtered back to California that Pou
and Bastow had supported Kennedy over
native son Jerry Brown. A S30,000 fundraiser
was cancelled, and all California support was
withdrawn. "They told us that we weren't
Continued on page 21
APRIL 17, 1980
Charges
Levied At
'Politics'
Of. Rally
by Dave Walter
As the April 29 "Washington for Jesus"
rally draws near, promoters of the event are
still working to dispel charges by detractors
that the rally is not "truly spiritual" — but
political — in nature.
One Nation Under God, the Christian
fundamentalist (New Right) organization
sponsoring the event, states in its literature
that "Washington for Jesus is not a lobbying
group.. is not attempting to lend its influ:
ence to support any candidate for public
office .. . is a time for people to pray for
America."
The organization was forced to deal with
some big PR problems when opponents
began blasting away at the "Christian Decla-ration"
released by leaders of One Nation
Under God earlier this year. The document,
which refers to this month's rally, proclaims
opposition to homosexuality, divorce, abor-tion
— as well as big government, inflation,
and the teaching of "unbridled sexuality,
- humanism, and satanism" in public schools.
A "Washington for Jesus" spokesman,
who preferred not to be identified, claimed
the Declaration was considered six months
ago by religious leaders who were interested
then in developing a political agenda for the
event, but ultimately opted not to do so. The -
spokesman said it was agreed political stands
should be dropped, partly because of differ-ing
viewpoints that would have led to a split
among religious leaders. Thus, he added, it
was decided to conduct rally activities strictly
in a spiritual context.
Opponents, however, aren't convinced
One Nation Under God will actually stick to
a spiritual agenda. They claim the organiza-tion
has political goals well in mind and plans
to pursue them during office visits to
members of Congress on April 28.
The "Washington for Jesus" spokesman
Continued on page 6
INSIDE:
News: Metro accepts
posters • Gay Holocaust
victims noted e Justice
done in brutal murder
Wrap up
Preferences: Gay $$$
Clout • Cold hands
Woman musician reaches
out • Baltimore theatre
comes alive
Community Focus: Clinic
landscaped e Li-ICC goes
on two • Name that band!